Here are the thoughts and images of one who aims humbly for that one treasure known as Enlightenment, Moksha, Nirvana, or The Kingdom of Heaven. I share with the reader the little insight and experience I am given on this quest of Love. I will have nothing new to say, but the way I express it will be genuine and honest. If a single phrase or painting come to be helpful to others, this whole mess will be worth the while.
Well met, traveller.

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Meaning of Life Undressed

One of the things that characterizes
human beings, is our ability to make sophisticated tools, and to plan
for the future. It is not strange then, that we tend to think in
terms of meaning and purpose. The purpose of bricks is to build, and
the purpose of bows is to hunt or kill. The meaning of gathering and
sowing is to eat. However, when we bring this idea of purpose and
meaning to Life itself, I believe we are severely mistaken. When we
ask for the meaning of life, we reduce Life itself to a means.

While we surround ourselves with tools
and gadgets that are means to various ends, Being itself is not. And
that is what makes it sacred. Sacred “things” has no meaning. By
merely existing they constitute value. They do not need a function.
Whenever we mistake a means for an end we are deceived. People who
look for fame, wealth, or power in themselves are always
disappointed. These are tools that can increase our options in life,
but they can't provide a sense of fullness. They are not sacred.

Life, the greatest of miracles and gifts, is in itself a far
greater treasure than anything we may acquire once we live and
breath. It is the foundation of all other joys. When we truly live,
in moments of contentment and happiness, we don't ask for meaning,
but when we look out from our seemingly isolated and small place in
the Universe, we come to wonder, what is the meaning of it all?

To
find an answer to that question, there need to be a plan or a
decision involved. That question requires a Creator that produces
Life with an intention. (Random example: Souls are intended to go
through life and hardships so that they may be purified.) When we
think like that, we reduce Life and God to a human level of thinking.
We reduce the sacredness of Life to a means. It becomes a mere path
to another, yet untasted Mystery. It is also a rather barbaric vision
of the Lord, who would in reality say: “Let's put these beings
through wars and bloody conflict through thousands of years. Let's
have children abused, teenagers trapped in drug-addiction and
prostitution, prisoners tortured for decades, and babies crippled
from nuclear mutation, just to make them worthy of my Kingdom.”

Some people look on other people as tools. They think of
others in terms of production-value, entertainment-value,
pleasure-value, cost etc. Fortunately there are many who recognize
the sacredness of life, and thus in societies where it is possible,
we let the mute, lame and wheel-chaired ones, who contribute to no
work or service, remain with us. By their very existence they
constitute Presence. They express the Sacred. This is what our Birth
means. As we come into Life our value is already full. There is
nothing we must do to deserve it. I will repeat that statement: There
is NOTHING you must do to deserve value. Whatever you do, you cannot
be less than others. Cultures which deny this principle are already
lost, or immature.

Life IS Meaning. When we mentally come
to experience our full integration with Life – our fullness of
Being, we cease to question the meaning. The question evaporates, so
to speak, because whatever we were lacking, whatever we sought to
fill the void in ourselves, is no longer missing. As we go from
“having a life” to “being Life” the idea of purpose vanishes.
When we truly ARE, there are no such questions left. That is what the
spiritual journey is all about – to know and merge with what already IS.

If you look for a meaning, it means you
have not yet come to recognize your fullness. You are still
struggling to become – to
understand. Know then, that even if you cannot feel it at the
moment, you already ARE, and the understanding you seek is not to be
found in books or blogs like this one, but in your very Self. It is
not a matter of words or concepts, but has to do fully with Being. As
your mind struggles to get things in order, and as your emotions
accompany its tune, Life is shouting from within – Hey, I'm already
here! Know me! I am everywhere.